Editorial: Rena's impact still being felt

If the Rena captain and navigational officer are going to address every community affected by their actions, they're going to be kept very busy.

Since 2.20am on October 5 last year, tens of thousands of people have been affected by the fact they ran the cargo ship Rena on to Astrolabe Reef.

Let's start with beachgoers, whose formerly sparkling playgrounds were smeared with black gunk and rotting meat.

Then there are seaside homeowners, who were concerned about the value of what, for many, would be their largest asset - their home.

We have business owners and those in the tourism trade who saw a slump in profits as word spread of the environmental catastrophe unfolding on New Zealand's most famous surf beach.

What about the environmentally-minded folks who took time off work to volunteer in some of the locations worst-hit by oil and debris?

Then there are the wildlife experts who had to be diverted away from their already-pivotal work to attend the needs of the hundreds of oiled birds found languishing on Bay coastlines.

There are armed forces personnel and Wellington-based officials who were away from home for days on end, sportspeople whose Mount Maunganui-based events were cancelled, and the world's elite salvors who still, seven months later, spend their days in and around the hulk of the ship.

Two groups have so far had apologies: a group who gathered about a month ago at an unpublicised meeting at Welcome Bay's Tahuwhakatiki (Romai) Marae and the people of Motiti Island. The men, who have name suppression and are due to reappear in Tauranga District Court on May 25, travelled to Motiti last week and were met with sympathy by some islanders.

On February 29 this year, Rena's captain and navigation officer admitted a raft of charges stemming from the ship's grounding.

In Tauranga District Court, the captain admitted six charges and the second officer four. Both pleaded guilty to a charge under section 65 of the Maritime Transport Act in relation to operating a ship in a manner causing unnecessary danger or risk to persons or property. The captain admitted a charge under the Resource Management Act of being the master of a ship from which harmful substances or contaminants were discharged into the coastal marine area.

He also pleaded guilty to four charges under the Crimes Act of wilfully attempting to pervert the course of justice, while the second officer pleaded guilty to three similar charges. The second officer has yet to answer a charge under the Resource Management Act relating to the discharge of harmful substances and/or contaminants.

Rena was off course when it struck the reef, six nautical miles north of Motiti Island, near high tide while en route from Napier to Tauranga.

I travelled to Motiti Island in the weeks after the grounding and it's clear the people of Motiti deserved an apology. Their custom of fetching kaimoana for daily meals vanished overnight. They had to send their children to the mainland as the marae where they were usually schooled was taken over as headquarters for the island's Rena response. Septic tanks and other services were stretched with the sudden influx of conservationists, volunteers and officials.

Motiti islanders asked for an apology and they got one.

Is that all it takes? If so, Tauranga would like one too. And Maketu. And Waihi Beach. And Great Barrier where noodle packets and timber washed up this week. Why did Motiti have to ask for the audience with the captain and navigational officer? The restorative justice system should be rolling out similar opportunities for the entire Bay. Tauranga Moana Restorative Justice Co-operative Trust manager John Delaney told this newspaper the trust had considered meetings with the wider community but the scale of it appears to have been daunting.

If this is the case, the trust must be given support - from local or central government - to help stage these meetings. They will be vital for the healing of this community. We mustn't shy away from this significant opportunity, simply because such meetings will be unwieldy to plan and manage.